Grappling device



Feb. 18, 1941. R, 1 KENT l 2,231,919

GRAPPLING DEVICE Filed Nov. E, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 VE N TOP ATTO/Q/VEV Feb. 18, 1941. R. J. KENT 2,231,919

GRAPPLING DEVI CE ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE Telephone Laboratories,

Incorporated, New

York, N.l Y., a -corporation of New York Application November 3, 1939,Serial No. v302,636

4 Claims.

This invention rel-ates to grappling devices and more particularly todevices of the type abovementioned suitable for use in ducts. The devicemay be used in connection with .the running of 5 rods through a ductpreliminary to the running of a wire line through the duct.

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for gettingrods through a duct.

The device comprises two separate parts which may be thrust into a ductfrom opposite ends of the duct and then coupled together within theduct, one of the parts being a pilot member and the other a receivermember for the pilot member.

A feature of the invention resides in the pilot member.

Another feature resides in the receiver member.

Other features reside in the parts in combination.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of the pilot member;

Fig. 2 is an end View of the pilot member taken from the right of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a side view, partly in section, of the receiver member;

Fig. 4 is an end View of the receiver member taken from the right ofFig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side view, partly in section, of the pilot and receivermembers coupled together in one of the plurality of coupling positions;and,

Fig. 6 is a side view, partly in section, of a p'ortion of a multipleduct system and showing the pilot and receiver members in one of theducts, the pilot and receiver members being in positions from which theymay be thrust into engagement with each other. Fig. 6 is drawn on areduced scale relative to the other figures.

In the running of cables of an electrical system through ducts, it iscommon practice for the cabling crew to rst run a rod through a requiredduct and use the rod as a means for getting a cable through the duct oras a means for getting a winch rope through the duct, the Winch ropebeing used in turn for pulling the cable through the duct. The duct maybe relatively long and extend from one street manhole to another or maybe a relatively long duct provided in the wall structure of a building.It will be assumed merely for the purpose of illustrating the inventionthat the duct is buried in the ground and that it extends from onestreet manhole to another.y The rod to be run through the duct maycomprise a plurality of rod sections equipped with suitable couplings sothata relatively long rod `mayfloe made by coupling a plurality ofsections together in end to end relation. To get the rod through theduct it is sometimes found necessary or advisable to thrust a rod partway through the duct from one manhole and to thrust another rod 5`through the duct from another manhole, the rods being made to traveltoward each other. In order that the rods thrust into the duct from thetwo ends of the duct` may be both withdrawn from the same end of theduct and thus utilized 10 4as a means for getting ,a cable line or awinch rope for the cable line through the duct, it is. necessary thatthe two rods be at least temporarily coupled together while they arewithin the duct. 15

My invention is a grappling device for temporarily coupling the two rodstogether while the rods are in the duct.

The grappling device I, as shown in Fig. 5, is made in two main parts,namely, a pilot member 20 2, shown in Fig. 1, and a receiver member 3shown in Fig. 3.

The pilot member, 2 comprises a cylindrical rod 4, having a conicalfront edge portion 5, and an internally threaded rear end portion 6, theend 25 `portion 6 being somewhat larger in diameter than the diameter ofthe rod 4 and being adapted for engagement by a wrench (not shown). Aseries of spaced fins 1 are provided on the rod 4 immediately forward ofthe rear end portion 6. 30 Each iin I has a long base portion 8, ashorter top portion 9 and downwardly sloping portions I0 and II, theportions I0 and Il being in the nature of inclined planes runningdownward from the top portion 9 to the respective front and rear 35 endportions I2 and I3 of the n 7. The base portion 8 is secured .to theouter surface of the rod 4 and extends lengthwise of the rod 4 but ismuch shorter than the rod 4. A convenient way of .securing the fin 1 tothe rod 4 is to wem 40 the front end I2 at I4 to the outer surface ofthe rod 4 and to weld the rear end I3 at I5 to the outer surface of therear end portion 6, the welds formed at these points being in effectcontinuations of the sloping portions of the fin 1. Spaced along theunfinned portion of the rod 4`and toward the conical front end portion5, are barbs I6,` Il and I8. The barbs I6, I`l and I8 extend radially ofthe rod 4.and are arranged in a helical 50 path, so that each barbextends in a different radialdirection from the others. Each barb is'adiamond shaped block and is fixed at one of its straight edge portionsto the outer surface of the rod 4 and so that one of its sharppointedencls is 55 spaced from the rod 4 and is directed toward the rearend portion of the rod, and the other sharp pointed end is in engagementwith the rod and is directed toward the front conical end portion 5 ofthe rod 4. The barb I8 is located adjacent the wider end of the conicalend portion 5 of the rod 4. The barb |1 is located rearwardly and offsetfrom the position occupied by the barb I8 and the barb I6 islocatedrearwardly and offset from the position of the barb I1. The rod 4may be a metal cylinder and the barbs |16, I1 and I8 may be metal blocksof the required form welded along one of their straight edge portions tothe outer surface of the rod 4. I have shown .three barbs on the pilotmember. It is tobe understood, however, that a diierent number of barbsmay be provided in the structure without departing from the spirit ofthe invention. To lighten the structure t-he rod 4 may comprise acylindrical tube secured to one end of which is the conical front endportion 5 as shown in Fig. 1. The fins 1 should project a greaterdistance from the bar 4 than the barbs I6, I1 and I8, the reason forwhich will be subsequently explained.

The receiver member 3 is adapted to receive the pilot member 2 andcomprises a ring I9, a plurality of spaced bars 20 and an internallythreaded end portion 2|. The ring I9 is of sulcient internal diameter toreadily receive the rod 4 of the pilot member 2 and any one ofthe barbson the rod 4 but is not large enough in diameter to receive the rod 4and the barbs, if any two of the barbs were located directly oppositeeach other on the rod 4. In other words, the overall diameter of the rod4 inclusive of the barbs I6, I1 and I8is slightly greater than theinternal diameter of the ring I9. Since the barbs I6, I1 and |8 arelocated in spaced relation and in a helical path along the rod 4, therod 4 may be thrust through the ring I9 by applying a slight rocking oroscillating movement to the rod 4 while it is being thrust through thering I9. The two ends of the ring I9 are beveled `on the outer surfaceto provide the beveled edge portions 22 and 23, the edge portion 23sloping toward the end portion 2| of the receiver 3 and the edge portion22 sloping in the opposite direction. The outer end portion of the -ringI9 is internally beveled at 24 to facilitate .thrusting of the pilotmember 2 within the receiver member 3. The outer central portion 25 ofthe ring I9 is made cylindrical to facilitate sliding of the receivermember 3 in a duct as shown in Fig. 6. The bars 20--20 are secured atone end to the cylindrical portion 25 of the ring I9 and are located atdiametrically opposite points on the ring I9. The other ends of the bars2li-26 'are secured to the outer surface of the internally threaded endportion 2| which may be, for instance, a hexagon nut. The end portion 2|is of smaller outside diameter than the outside diameter of the ring I9.The bars 26-26 extend for the greater portion of their length inparallel spaced relation and then converge toward the end portion 2|.The end portions of the bars 26-20 are then bent to extend in parallelspaced relation to the points at which the bars 20-20 are secured to endportion 2|. The receiver member 3 is made long enough to receive all ofthe barbed portion of the pilot member 2. The two parts of the grapplingdevice I, namely, the pilot member 2 and the receiver member 3 areadapted to be supported on rods to be thrust within a duct 26 as shownin Fig. 6. The duct 26 may be a single duct located in a buildingstructure or in the ground or may be one of a plurality of similar ducts21 and 28 in a pipe 29.

When a cabling crew wants to get a rod through the duct 26, a rod 30having a malethreaded end portion 3|, shown in Figs. l and 5, is securedin the rear end portion 6 of the pilot member 2. A lock-nut 32 may beprovided on the male-threadedend portion 3| of the rod 36 to preventundesired separation of the rod 3U from the pilot member 2. The pilotmember 2 is thrust into the duct 26 from one end of the duct and is thenthrust along Within the duct 26 by means of the rod 30 toward the otherend of the duct. A rod 33 having a male-threaded end 34 is secured inthe end portion 2| of the receiver member 3. A lock-nut 35 may beprovided on the male-threaded end portion 34 of the rod 33 to preventundesired separation of the rod 33 from the receiver member 3. Thereceiver member 3 is thrust into the duct 26 from an end of the duct 26opposite to that in which the pilot member 2 is thrust. The receivermember 3 is then thrust along within the duct 26 by means of the rod 33.The pilot member 2 and the receiver member 3 are pushed toward veachother by means of the respective rods 3|] and 33 until the rod 4 of thepilot member 2 is thrust a suicient distance within the receiver member3 to get one or more of the barbs I6, I1, I8 entirely through the ringI9. The most desirable condition is to have the pilot member 2 thrustsufficiently far into the receiver member 3 so that all of the barbs I6,I1 and I8 are passed through the ring I9 as shown in Fig. 5. Thiscondition can be quite well ascertained by thrusting on the rods 38 and33 until further thrusting movements are prevented by the i'lns 1 on thepilot member 2 coming into contact with the ring I9 of the receivermember 3. When this condition is attained a backward Pull on the rod 30will bring one of the barbs I6, I1 and I8 into engagement with the innerend of the ring I9. Since each barb on the pilot member 2 has a pointedend spaced from the outer surface of the rod 4 of the pilot member andthis pointed end is directed toward the rear of the pilot member 2, therearwardly pointed end of the barb will engage the outer surface of thebeveled edge 230i the ring I9 as shown for instance in Fig. 5 andprevent longitudinal separation of the pilot member 2 and the receivermember 3. In this case the barb I6 is shown as engaging the ring I9. Itwill be seen that if a backward pull is applied to the rod 30, thereceiver member 3 and the rod 33 attached thereto will be pulled alongthrough the duct and that the rod 33 will be eventually pulled to theend of the duct 26 from which the pulling action is applied. By having aplurality of barbs arranged on the pilot member 2 as above described, Iminimize the possibility of the pilot member 2 being withdrawn from thereceiver member 3 when a backward pull is applied to the rod 36. The rodmight in some cases be so manipulated that the barb I6 will not engagethe beveled edge of the ring I9, but will pass through the ring I9 whena backward pull is applied to the rod 38. In this event, however,further pulling on the rod 36 will bring either the barb I1 or the barbI8 into engagement with the beveled edge 23 of the ring I9 since thesebarbs extend from the rod 4 of the pilot member 2 at different positionsfrom that of the barb I6.

When a rod has been made to extend all the way through the duct 26, therod 33 may be used Iconical forward end portion 5 of .the pilot member 2into the ring I9 of the receiver member 3. When vthe backwardly slopingforward end lto be directed into I9 of the receiver member 3. The finsduct 26 for lthe pilot member 2 the ring having a bevel edged ringadapted to be engaged by any Ione of said barbs receiver memberstogether.

4. A grappling device comprising a pilot member h ROBERT J. KENT.

